Posts Tagged ‘David Farrar’
Political propaganda dressed up as an opinion poll
Via one of my lovely Twitter sources, the sardonic and interesting @johubris … the following ‘poll question’ has been recently distributed: “Thinking about your life and your country now, what is the most important issue that you want to see the New Zealand Government addressing?” This qualifies as push-polling, as you’ll see, which is when […]
Making a pig of it. Jordan Williams has been tardy with his financial reporting obligations
It appears the PR attack machine operated by New Zealand’s most defamed man Jordan Williams (the value of whose reputation has been under review) and his ‘co-founder’, long time National Party political activist David Farrar, has been delinquent in its financial reporting obligations since the end of January this year. The ‘NZ Taxpayers Union Inc’ incorporated society […]
Stages of grief after an electoral loss
Don’t let anyone tell you this stuff isn’t real. It’s absolutely natural to cast around for blame, and then a fresh-faced leader after a not-exactly-unexpected-but-oh-boy-we-got-our-hopes-up election loss/disappointment. How long before Dr Jonathan Coleman is persuaded to throw his hat in the ring again? He’ll be getting sweet-talked by now, I reckon. – P
‘Dirty Politics’ – two worthwhile retrospectives & some new developments
The Spinoff website recently carried two worthwhile retrospective articles looking at the impact of Nicky Hager’s book Dirty Politics. Read them if you’re interested via the links below. First, ‘Sunlight did what sunlight does: Nicky Hager on Dirty Politics, three years on’ (link to The Spinoff here) which includes a good number of points with […]
On the ‘NZ Taxpayers Union Inc’ PR attack machine
Following some discussion on Twitter about this astroturf political attack machine’s activities, I’ve been asked for these. They’re public documents available on the Register of Incorporated Societies … Application to incorporate a society (see names below*) ‘NZ Taxpayers Union Inc’ 2013 financial report ‘NZ Taxpayers Union Inc’ 2014 financial report ‘NZ Taxpayers Union Inc’ 2015 […]
Why does Jordan Williams expose himself to so much loathing, contempt and ridicule?
Lawsuits are always risky. There’s a term for it: ‘Litigation risk’. As a person with a law degree, Jordan Williams should know that. The boy-wonder with a penchant for deceit first caught my eye as the ‘front’ (as in, public face) of the grubby and dubious anti-MMP campaign ‘Vote for Change’. I wrote about that […]
Dirty Politics: John Key confesses to secret relationship with campaign worker
In the aftermath of the National Party’s emphatic re-election to lead a coalition government in New Zealand, surprisingly little has been made of Party Leader John Key’s confession to a secret relationship. It was contact John Key admitted he was warned not to engage in. “I was told not to … I know I shouldn’t […]
Puffery. Lies by another name?
I saw the emergence recently of a new ‘grassroots’ lobbying group and, unlike some spluttering online commenters, chuckled to see the personnel involved. It would be unfair and potentially misleading to call David Farrar, Jordan Williams and John Bishop members of a government/public relations rogues’ gallery, so I won’t. And anyway, seriously, how could anyone […]
You’re doing ‘hit-pieces’ on government critics, now David? Seriously?
You may remember the name David Farrar. I write about him here now and then, usually fairly affectionately (well, comparatively). David Farrar showing WhaleOil how it’s done Negative credibility sux, eh @whaleoil? eh @dpfdpf? I’d double-check if they told me what day it was A study in spin. And Farrar lends a hand … Wailing […]
Wailing about death threats, forgetting what they’ve written themselves
MOCK outrage from local right wing bloggers (the usual suspects) at left wing criticism of left wing activists appears disingenuous. At best. A RWNJ blogger and chorus have been wailing about some public criticism (blogged) of some left wing activists by some LWNJ activists/bloggers and their anonymous feral commenters … even breathlessly interpreting references to […]
I’d double-check if they told me what day it was
More on the negative credibility of bloggers ‘seeding’ controversy in the mainstream media … Following my brief mention of bloggers who make sh*t up (Negative credibility sux, eh @whaleoil? eh @dpfdpf?) I was interested last night to read NZ First leader Winston Peters’ speech notes for a Wintec media lunch yesterday where he pinged the […]
Negative credibility sux, eh @whaleoil? eh @dpfdpf?
We’ve discussed before Dan Gilmor’s concept of ‘Negative Credibility‘ — the idea that sometimes information can have an appearance of LESS VERACITY because of its source. Gilmor pointed to Andrew Breitbart’s exposé of the Weiner/underpants/twitter ‘scandal’ (triggered by Rep. Weiner accidentally tweeting a photo as a public reply when he meant to send a DM, […]
So, who is Simon Lusk?
Scratch this one down to idle curiosity: I’m seeing Simon Lusk‘s name bandied about in Parliament, in the media and on the interwebs. He’s a fairly low-key chap, apparently, who works as some sort of campaign manager/political careers advisor/ninja for various ‘players’ (or wannabe players) on the right of politics in New Zealand. A blogger […]
David Farrar showing WhaleOil how it’s done
Bloggers* David Farrar and Scott Yorke gave a master class in fair and reasonable political discourse and commentary on Jim Mora’s Afternoons show on Radio NZ National yesterday, which I listened to using the Radio NZ iPhone App late last night. In the context of my conversation with Cameron Slater (via our blogs) — where […]
